Shadows of the Past
by RBloodscalp
Summary: Defiler Xaax is commisioned to help capture a Protoss Judicator in the first chapter of what will become a starcraft/ranma crossover
1. Default Chapter

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Disclaimer: All the starcraft stuff belongs to Blizzard, blah blah blah. Some of the other characters are mine, and others were borrowed from a Starcraft campaign called Vision of the Future.

This is the 1st chapter or what I hope will eventually become a starcraft/ranma 1/2 crossover. Its pretty short, I just wanted to see if anyone would actually be interested in reading the rest of it. This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so be gentle please. Thanks and enjoy the 1st part of ch. 1

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The Defiler slowly awoke from its regeneration process. It pulled itself up out of its burrow and stretched out its long, spindly legs. Its eyes scanned its surroundings quickly; everything appeared to be in order. Drones scuttled by quickly, carrying loads of minerals and gas while several overlords floated lazily overhead, keeping their watchful eyes on the mining operation. The defiler crawled over to the hatchery and made a quick mental note of how many minerals it contained.

"Excellent, we have nearly filled our resource quota," it thought, "and then I return to the Hive cluster." It moved to the edge of the creep to watch a few hydralisks playfully killing a bengallas. "I cant believe that Nagril would send me, the great Hunter Xaax, to gather his minerals while there are still Protoss in the sector! Oh well, Im sure he has his reasons." Xaax turned his attention back to the hydralisks, who had finished their game and were now hungrily feeding on the carcass. He was considering joining them when a voice sounded in his head.

"Xaax, I have a new task for you, one more suited to your abilities."

Xaax recognized the voice immediately as that of Nagril, his cerebrate master. "You need but give the command, and I would obey unquestioningly, master."

"Very good, now on to your task. Our sources have recently informed us that the Protoss have moved one of their Judicator caste to command their outpost on Rylos IV," Nagril explained. "Normally this would not concern us, however, recent sunspot activity in that region has scrambled their communications equipment, and there aren't any patrols due in this region for days. In light of this information, we have decided to advance the project by capturing the Judicator," he finished.

"This does seem to be an excellent opportunity, but there is a problem, master," Xaax said. "My force does not have the strength to attack such a heavily fortified base, and I only have the ability to spawn rudimentary units and structures." He began to pace and forth across the creep. This was exactly the kind of assignment he had been hoping for, but now it seemed just beyond the reach of his abilities.

"I understand, and that is why I am sending K'tulan to help you."

"The Kraken brood?" Xaax asked. "I would have thought Daggoth's stool pigeon would have better things to do," he thought. 

"Try to have a little more respect when speaking of cerebrates, even if it is K'tulan," Nagril chuckled. "This mission, however, is no laughing matter. The only reason why I am not going myself is the situation on Char. We still aren't having any luck against the UED."

"They still control the young overmind?"

"Yes, and it seems that we wont be getting it back any time soon. Well, enough chit-chat, I expect that K'tulan will be arriving soon. In the mean time, get your forces together and prepare your minerals for transport; you're going to need them all. I await word of your success, Xaax. Do not fail." The psychic link terminated and Xaax was left to his thoughts.

"Ha, I knew he wouldn't have sent me out here without a reason," Xaax laughed. He began issuing telepathic commands to his unit. Overlords began to land and open up their large transport sacs while drones, zerglings and hydralisks began to pile inside. The evacuation was almost complete when another voice came into Xaax's mind.

"So Xaax, you're late as always," K'tulan laughed. "I would have expected you to be ready sooner, given the importance of our mission."

"I'm sorry, but I just got the order from Nagril 20 minutes ago," Xaax complained.

"No excuses, just get up here to the space barge now so we can leave. We have already wasted too much precious time here."

"Damned arrogant cerebrate, one day someone will show him just how high and mighty he really is, and I'll be there to point and laugh." Xaax went on complaining for a few minutes before his force lifted off the surface and headed for orbit.

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All the starcraft stuff belongs to Blizzard, blah blah blah. Some of the other characters are mine, and others were borrowed from a Starcraft campaign called Vision of the Future.

Well, here is the first full chapter of Shadows of the Past. The next chapter will continue with the Ranma side of things. Comments and criticisms are welcome, please R&R.

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Less than 12 hours later the infested space barge arrived in orbit above Rylos IV. 

Xaax sat on the north edge of the barge, looking out toward the frozen world. All around him Zerg were scurrying about in preparation for the landing on Rylos. Behind Xaax sat the jiggling blob of fat that was cerebrate K'tulan. 

"Rylos IV isn't supposed to be an ice world!" Xaax whined.

"Umm, well obviously it is, so quit crying and get ready for orbital drop," K'tulan laughed.

"I hate ice worlds," Xaax continued, "they're so cold. It bothers me, and its not good for my parasites."

"It can be any colder than it is up here."

"Its not so much the cold as it is the snow and wind," Xaax said. "Oh well, lets just get this over with and go home to Char."

"Char?" K'tulan asked. "Haven't you heard, we're moving our headquarters to the planet Kodulas in the Kodulan system. Daggoth has decided to abandon Char."

"What!" Xaax cried, "Daggoth would never abandon our world."

"After Kerrigan and Fraluzure arrived on Char Daggoth decided that it would be best to abandon the planet and let her fight it out with the UED."

"I can't believe it…" Xaax murmured. "We lost Char to that self-proclaimed bitch queen."

"Don't worry Xaax, it's not the end of the world. Besides, Daggoth chose Kodulas because it very much resembles Char. It too is a volcanic world and the surface temperatures are fairly close to each other. I bet you wont even know the difference," K'tulan reassured.

"Well, the sooner we get this Judicator, the better," Xaax said sulkily. He looked back down toward the planet. "Shouldn't we be heading down by now?"

"Of course, get your troops ready and follow me in. Once we land, set up a base quickly and prepare for the attack." As soon as he was done speaking, the large cerebrate was picked up by and even larger Ygdrasill overlord, which began heading toward the surface. The rest of the overlords began to lumber after the Ygdrasill and Xaax's overlord followed shortly.

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"Its cold down here…" Xaax muttered. It was a few minutes after the landing and a base was being set up around him. "Curse these Protoss, why do they always insist on settling on the coldest types of worlds?"

"They know it slows us down," K'tulan interrupted. "They think they can stop us by setting up bases in these hostile environments, the fools. That is the reason why my brood was created! My special hostile environment units are able to operate with peak efficiency here, and…"

"Here he goes again," Xaax thought. "Does this guy ever shut up?" He began giving orders to the drones around his recently completed hatchery. The drones scurried off to morph into new buildings for the hive. 

"Xaax? Xaax, why aren't you listening?" K'tulan demanded.

"Because you're boring and I hate the sound of your voice," Xaax said. "I have better things to do than listen to you tell me how amazing you are."

"Fine, I won't talk to you anymore. Just don't come crying to me when the Protoss smash your pathetic army. I attack in 1 hour, and I suggest you be ready then too." 

Xaax simply shook his head and went back to work. About 40 minutes later K'tulan called Xaax again. "I thought you weren't talking to me," Xaax said.

"Shut up, there's been a change in the plan. One of my overlords just intercepted a transmission from a Protoss shuttle leaving orbit. Listen to this."

'I do not wish to leave, but it is not my place to fight,' said a Protoss voice. 'I have left some of my machines here, they should prove useful'.

'Very well, go and bring help soon,' answered another Protoss. 'I will hold them off for now. En taro Adun, Amukaiser!'

'En taro Adun, Chalader. I will return soon'.

"As you can see, we have to step up the mission time before reinforcements arrive."

"I'm not ready yet," Xaax said flatly.

"Neither am I, my environmental mutalisks haven't even finished spawning yet. However, my Hunter Killers and a Torrasque are ready for action."

"I only have a few groups of hydralisks."

"Then use them well, because we have to attack now," K'tulan said. "My troops are already in position, hurry and join them. I will have air support ready soon."

"He'd better have it ready, or this will be my shortest offensive ever," Xaax thought.

Outside the Protoss base, two zealots stood by a photon cannon at the perimeter defense line. A massive reaver slowly lumbered up behind the cannon and the generator inside slowly came to life.

"What is going on here, why is Chalader activating the defenses?" one zealot asked his comrade.

"Relax, it is probably just a routine test, don't even worry about it," his friend responded. The other zealot was about to say something when suddenly the tower on the photon cannon shot up in the air and opened fire on something to their left. They spun around to see the smoldering remains of a zergling under a tree. "Zerg? Here?" the zealot asked. "We have to report this to Chalader right away."

"I think it's a bit too late for that," his companion said. "Look." The other zealot looked past his friend to a line of trees about 100 yards away. Masses of hydralisks and one very large and particularly deadly looking Ultralisk emerged from the trees.

"By Adun, how did they escape detection?" the zealot asked. He never had time to worry about it any further, because the Zerg began to rush toward them. Both zealots flashed out their psionic blades and stood near the cannon, which was spraying fire like crazy toward the Zerg. The reaver fired a scarab that hit the Ultralisk head on, but it just kept on coming.

The Ultralisk crashed into the cannon first, nearly toppling it with one blow. The hydralisks followed from behind and attacked the zealots. The first zealot never even made it to the group before he was cut down, but the second one found a hydralisk and began hacking it to pieces before he was killed. After he fell, the reaver fired another scarab into the mass, blowing away nearly half the hydralisks. By this time, the rest of the base was on alert, and a defensive line of dragoons and reavers was being formed around the Nexus. The wave of hydralisks broke against the line of dragoons. Most of them were shot to pieces before they even reached the line, and the Ultralisk was finally overcome with scarabs from the reavers. 

"So what do we do now, fearless leader." Xaax asked sarcastically. 

"Just keep watching." K'tulan said. The two were perched on top of a ridge near the base, giving them a clear view of the battle below. "Here comes my back up plan. Send your hydralisks in now, Xaax." Xaax turned his attention back to the base, and saw a large mass of guardians and mutalisks moving in from the South. His own hydralisk troop was moving in from the north to box the defenders in.

"Heh, we may just win this after all," Xaax thought.

The protoss saw the mass of air units approaching and prepared for the worst. The high templar commanding the defenses looked to his lieutenant. "It has been a pleasure working with you, Ertai," he said. "I'll be damned if I let them take me with out a fight."

"En taro Adun, Chalader, we will fight them to the last," the zealot said bravely. At that moment, the first of the guardians entered firing range and opened up on the Dragoons. The dragoon were forced back, taking heavy casualties. As they continued backing up, they ran right into the hydralisks that had come up behind them. They rest were picked off quickly. Now only Chalader and Ertai remained. The guardians moved over the two and fired off a few quick shots, killing Ertai.

"Damn you, Zerg!" Chalader cried as he released a psionic storm over the mass of guardians. They began to scatter, but the middle ones were destroyed before they could move.

"Now, now, Judicator, don't make this anymore difficult by resisting," Xaax said as he emerged from behind his hydralisks.

"So, the coward in charge here finally shows his face," Chalader laughed. "Stand and face me with honor, creature!"

"I don't have time to waste here, surrender now and I promise to make your rebirth into the swarm a painless one."

"I will never surrender to you, monster!" Chalader yelled as he released another psionic storm over the group of hydralisks. They were all quickly destroyed, but Xaax had already moved out of the way. "You will never take me alive."

"Oh, we will," Xaax said confidently. "Look up."

Chalader looked up in time to see the queen that had snuck up behind him fire a parasite that him right in the face, toppling him over. "Feh, easy enough," Xaax thought. "K'tulan, we are ready to depart."

"Xaax, there are 3 unidentified overlords moving toward your position," K'tulan warned. "They bear the colors of Zagril's brood."

"Just wonderful," Xaax thought. "What does Zagril want here?" He looked up and saw the overlords move overhead. They slowly floated down to earth and several groups of Hunter Killers moved out, followed by the defiler Thakras. 

"So, Hunter Xaax, we meet again," Thakras laughed.

"Don't waste my time Thakras, what brings you here?" Xaax demanded.

"Oh, just business," Thakras said, nodding to his Hunter Killers. They opened fire on K'tulan guardians, destroying them. "We will be taking the Judicator now."

"What treachery is this!" Xaax roared. "Zagril will not gain Daggoth's favor through this!"

"That old fool?" Thakras asked. "Who needs his favor anyway?". He turned to leave. "We'll be seeing you soon, Xaax," he said as he picked up the Judicator and moved him into the overlord. Xaax watched them until they left, and then returned to K'tulan.

"How dare they!" K'tulan yelled when he heard the news. "Daggoth and the council will hear of this. Come, let's hurry back to Kodulas. If we hurry, we might be able to beat Zagril there."

"Damn, this is gonna be a long day," Xaax sighed as he boarded the overlord. "I need a vacation."

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Kodulas, a meeting between the Cerebrates, 12 hours later

"So, Zagril, what is the status of the infested Arbiter," Daggoth asked.

"Everything is as it should be, all we need now is the infested Judicator," Zagril answered.

"They should be entering the atmosphere shortly, master," Nagril told them. "K'tulan should have already infested the Judicator on the way back."

"Ha ha ha, very good," Daggoth laughed. "Zagril, get the arbiter ready prepared for immediate use, I want to set the plan in motion as soon as possible."

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"We are nearly there, Xaax," K'tulan said. "As soon as we reach the surface, go and tell Nagril of Zagril's treachery. I will inform Daggoth."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Xaax assured him. "I just have this strange feeling that there is more to this than meets the eye."

"We shall see…" K'tulan said quietly.

"My advanced scouts report that the group is returning," Daggoth told the others. "Nagril, go and speak with Xaax immediately."

"Yes master". A large overlord moved down and picked up the huge blob and carried it away to the landing zone.

When Xaax and K'tulan landed, they saw that Nagril was already waiting for them. The overlord landed, and Xaax got out and moved to speak with Nagril.

"So, Xaax, where is the Judicator?" Nagril asked.

"We do not have him, master," Xaax told him.

"What!" Nagril raged. "You dare show your face back here without a Judicator? Daggoth will have your head!"

"Let me explain, master," Xaax said quickly. "After we took the base, we had the Judicator in custody, when Zagril's brood attack us and stole him away."

"Zagril?!" Nagril said in a shocked voice. "He wouldn't dare cross me…" Nagril was interrupted the voice of Seithor, which came into all of their minds.

"Alert, all Zerg forces in the area, Zagril has attacked my brood that was guarding the arbiter and has stolen it. He flees the surface even now!"

"Damn, Zagril has betrayed us all!" Nagril roared. "Xaax, hurry back to your overlord, I will prepare my own forces for immediate pursuit". Xaax turned and headed back for his overlord. All around him, Zerg were scurrying around, and waves of mutalisks began pouring out of the nearby mountains and flew out towards open space. 

"Hmm, looks like I was right after all," Xaax thought. "This is going to be a long day."

A few hours later, the armies of the most powerful cerebrates were gathered in the space above Kodulas. Nagril began to brief Xaax on the current situation.

"Daggoth believes that Zagril may have headed for the UED controlled system of Alarite. It's the closest system from here, and has very few UED patrols. Daggoth has also told me to inform you of the nature of our secret project. Using the infested arbiter and the Judicator, we were going to create a rift that would carry us back in time to 21st century Earth. We were going to wipe out all life there, preventing the Confederacy, the UED or that bitch Kerrigan from ever coming here. Then the swarm would reign supreme, but apparently Zagril has other plans."

"Interesting, but what do you want me to do about it?" Xaax asked.

"We need you to find Zagril, and bring him to justice. I will also grant you the ability to spawn your own full brood. If Zagril uses the arbiter to travel through time, you must follow him and prevent him from doing any permanent harm."

"It will be a pleasure, master," Xaax said. "When do I leave?"

"Right away. Take these Kuzula mutalisks and an overlord, and when you find him report to me immediately."

"Finally, a chance to command my own brood" Xaax thought as his overlord moved away from the mass towards the Alarite system. "I will show them all what I am really capable of!"

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1 Day later, on the planet Alarite V

"Thakras, is everything ready?" Zagril asked his minion. 

"Yes, the ship is prepared to create the rift, we are standing by for your command," Thakras answered.

"Excellent, open the rift immediately".

"I' afraid I cant allow you to do that," said a voice in their heads. "By order of Daggoth, I am here to stop you, traitor!"

"Ahh, Xaax, I'm so glad you could join us," Zagril laughed. "Come on out here where we can see you." Xaax slowly came out of hiding, followed by his wing of mutalisks. He stopped in front of the arbiter.

"Such a pity that Nagril was too cowardly to come for me himself," Zagril said. "Do you really think you can stop me, old fool? Behold the power of this might ship!" Just as Zagril finished talking, something moved over the sun. Xaax looked up and saw a Protoss Carrier moving in directly over them. Suddenly interceptors shot out and opened fire on his mutalisks. They were caught totally by surprise and never had a chance.

"Damn," Zagril thought, "I hadn't counted on this."

"Zerg, surrender what is rightfully ours or be destroyed. We have you vastly outnumbered," The Protoss commander warned. The carrier's interceptors moved down near the arbiter, ready to open fire.

Meanwhile, up in orbit, the UED battleship Tempest was finishing its last routine patrol of the sector. This had been a rather uneventful voyage, and the crew was itching for something to happen. They were about to get their wish.

Captain Paul Halleck sat down in the captain's chair on the bridge of the Tempest. He sighed and took a drink from the cup of coffee he held in his hand. "Damn, this trip has been boring,: he thought. "Why do I always get stuck with patrol missions?" He closed his eyes and was about to doze off when Lieutenant Jackson called him.

"Captain?" he said. "Are you awake sir?"

"What is it?" Halleck asked without opening his eyes.

"Sir, I just detected weapons fire on Alarite V. The signature matches the cannons used on Protoss interceptors."

Halleck quickly sat up straight in his chair. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive. The signature came from somewhere on the southern continent."

"Finally, something to do" Halleck thought. "Go to red alert, bring weapons on line and prepare our fighters for launch." The lights dimmed and a siren rang out across the ship. 'Red alert, red alert, all crews to your battle stations. Repeat…' the computerized voice continued to sound the alarm. "Take us into orbit, Mr. Kim," Halleck ordered.

"Yes sir, ETA to the target is 3 minutes."

"I wish I could stay and chat, I really do, but I have important business to attend to ," Zagril said. "Thakras, activate the device now!" A blow glow covered the arbiter, and then it shot out a beam of energy. The beam opened up into the large, portal-like rift in front of the arbiter. "Farewell for now, fools, I'll see you all soon. That is if you still exists upon my return! Hahahahaha," Zagril laughed. The arbiter disappeared into the portal.

"Damn, I guess I have to go too," Xaax thought. He crawled back into his overlord, which moved into the rift and disappeared. The carrier began to move towards the rift, and was nearly there when the Tempest arrived.

"Captain, there is Protoss carrier here," Lt. Jackson reported. "It appears to be entering a massive rift about 3 clicks ahead. We are also detecting the remains of Zerg in the area."

"Well that would explain the weapons fire, but what the hell is that rift?" Halleck asked.

"The energy readings from it are off the scale, but it appears to be shrinking." Jackson continued. "The carrier just moved inside and disappeared from our sensors."

"How long until the rift will be too small for us to enter?"

"Approximately 35 seconds".

Halleck thought for a moment before giving his next order. "Take us in, Mr. Kim." He sat back down in his chair as the Tempest raced towards the closing rift. "I'm gonna regret this…" he thought.


End file.
